CCAN member company Innovative Polymer Compounds – IPC, the Irish medical polymer compounder based in Kilbeggan, Co. Offaly has launched a new product range at this year’s Medtech Europe trade show in Germany on June 5th. The PEBASlide™ product line is a direct result of a technology license recently signed with CCAN (pronounced "see-can") – the Collaborative Centre for Applied Nanotechnology. The licensed technology allows IPC to enhance the properties of PEBAX, a widely used polymer in the medical device industry.

In developing the PEBASlide technology, IPC combined its own expertise with that of other CCAN member companies, polymer processing capabilities at PPRC at Queen’s University Belfast, and the outstanding polymer science expertise of Dr. Ramesh Babu’s group at the CRANN Institute in Trinity College Dublin. This cooperation represents a best practise example of how CCAN and the Nano Regions Alliance can facilitate the market entrance for nano technology SMEs by linking nanoplayers across different regions and supporting their activities.

David Howard, Sales Director at IPC commented on the reaction to the product launch. "The PebaSlide launch created significant interest for IPC at the Medtech Europe show and we are already preparing and shipping PebaSlide batches for evaluation by customers."

Henrik Bjoerk, co-founder and Director of IPC stated “For fast growing Irish companies such as IPC to develop and deliver new products, it is essential that we can quickly and easily access the expertise that we need from a wide network of development partners. CCAN membership has enabled us to do just that. CCAN makes it easy for us to collaborate with large medical device companies and leading research institutes research like the CRANN Institute. Within CCAN the whole development process from project definition, to execution and subsequent IP licensing is streamlined and efficient. It is exactly what industry needs. In our view CCAN is by far the easiest way for both small and large companies to engage in such collaborative R&D."

As the product name suggests, the new PEBASlide materials deliver to the market Pebax polymers with reduced friction and added functionality for use in medical devices. Reducing the friction of medical tubing as it passes through blood and other vessels within the body is critically important to enable advanced catheters and stents to be deployed into even smaller blood vessels such as those present in arms, legs and the brain.

Dr. Alan Hynes, Executive Director of CCAN commented "This technology license and product launch further enhances IPC’s reputation in the medical device industry as an innovative adopter of advanced technologies and a partner of choice for larger companies seeking specialist polymer solutions for their medical devices. In this case CCAN's success in delivering for an SME such as IPC is due to the very significant expertise and focus of Dr. Babu's research team in CRANN, along with the support and professionalism of Dr. Margaret Woods and her colleagues in the TCD technology transfer office. This PEBASlide license shows that CCAN's focus on making industry-academic collaboration as easy as possible delivers real returns for companies, research providers and the Irish economy. We look forward to further license announcements later in the year and we wish IPC every success with the PEBASlide products."

Members of the IPC development team and Dr. Alan Hynes of CCAN outside the IPC cleanroom facility in Kilbeggan, Ireland.

Commenting on the license and product launch, Gearoid Mooney, Director of Research & Innovation at Enterprise Ireland said, “The PEBASlide product launch is a shining example of what collaborating with our Technology Centres enables SMEs to achieve. Innovative companies like IPC can reduce time to market for advanced products and work with their large customers and world class researchers to ultimately give them competitive advantage in international markets.”

INTERREG IVb NWE is a financial instrument of the European Union's Cohesion Policy. It funds projects which support transnational cooperation. The aim is to find innovative ways to make the most of territorial assets and tackle shared problems of Member States, regions and other authorities.